Tag: Julian de Miskey

On many a Monday Tilley Watch I mention placement of art. Usually I’m talking about how large a drawing appears on the page, and where it sits. I’m fairly certain I’ve also mentioned how the art once played across the pages of The New Yorker, creatively interacting with text. While randomly (electronically) flipping through elder issues of The New Yorker this morning I happened upon some examples. The first one (by Al Frueh) is especially striking:

Below: Julian de Miskey, February 6, 1926.

Below: JTI, November 6, 1926.

Below: unsigned, November 24, 1928

Below: Leonard Dove, on the left and Rea Irvin on the right, November 24, 1928.

A New Yorker State of Mind with its ongoing fascinating deep dives into the magazine, issue by issue, beginning with the very first number. In this case it’s the issue of December 7, 1929 (cover by Julian de Miskey). Read here.

And Attempted Bloggery shows us an E. Simms Campbell cartoon from the January 1937 issue of Esquire. To see the entire cartoon go here.

Last Sunday the 6th New Yorker Album was in this spot — today it’s The 5th New Yorker Album, published in 1932. It’s a heck of a lot of fun to look through and it has a bonus: the Foreward is by James Thurber. In 1932 he was in top form as a cartoonist and writer, as well as one of the magazine’s stars. Rereading his Foreword this rainy Fall morning I found parts of it touchingly relevant.

Here’s how it opens:

“What do you people really want, anyway?” is awfully funny. It makes me think of the many many comments I’ve read on the New Yorker‘s Facebook pages (its flagship page and its off-shoot New Yorker Cartoons page). My guess is that every single New Yorker cartoon posted online receives varying proportions of praise and condemnation, validating for the zillionth time the oldie but goodie cliche, “Everyone has an opinion.”

Last year I was asked by Gil Roth on hisVirtual Memories podcast, “What is a New Yorker cartoon?” and my answer (after freezing a moment) was something like “It’s whatever the editors (at the time) think is a New Yorker cartoon.” In other words, there’s no set of rules, regulations, guidelines and requirements posted on one of the magazine’s walls. How boring would that be. It would also be the death of the magazine’s cartoons. Thurber addresses this in his foreword:

Thurber sums up his Foreword perfectly. Perfectly for 1932, and perfectly for now and tomorrow at The New Yorker:

Some notes about the 5th Album: the album itself is somewhat more difficult to find than most of the others. Finding it with a dust jacket is even more of a challenge. This was the final Album missing from the Spill’s set of dust-jacketed New Yorker Albums. Some years back two generous individuals helped fill the gap. I’m indebted to Edward Sorelfor finding a copy (sans dust jacket) for the Spill’s archives and equally indebted to Chris Wheeler for donating the dust jacket of his copy to the Spill’s archives.

The cover of the Album, by Julian De Miskey, was originally the New Yorker cover for the issue of April 2, 1932:

Here’s the only text appearing elsewhere on the dust jacket other than the cover and spine; it’s on the inside front flap. The back cover is blank, as is the back inside flap.

Blog of Interest: A New Yorker State of Mind: Reading Every Issue of The New Yorker

An irresistible site if you love getting in the New Yorker weeds. As you can see the issue in the spotlight this week is dated August 4, 1928. Cover by Julian de Miskey. Read it here.

_______________________________________________________________

Latest New Yorker Cartoons Rated

And now back to the future…the Cartoon Companion boys, “Max” & “Simon” look closely at the brand new cartoons in the brand new issue of The New Yorker. Cartoons with salt, sharks, wax, thuggery, punch, groceries dissected. Read it here.

_____________________________________________________________

More Hef: Playboy Comedy, Comedians and Cartoons

Thanks to a Facebook post by Mort Gerberg yesterday I was alerted to this brand new book published in late August by Beaufort Books, Playboy Laughs: The Comedy, Comedians and Cartoons of Playboy. According to Mr. Gerberg, the book includes interviews with Arnold Roth, Jules Feiffer, Mike Williams, Don Orehek, Al Jaffee and Mr. Gerberg.

___________________________________________________________

More Bloggery

Stephen Nadler over at Attempted Bloggery continues providing a look into New Yorker cartoon auction art and ephemera. Today it’s sheet music from Murray Anderson’s 1929 Almanac (and an Arno Camel ad in the show’s Playbill). Scroll on down the post and you’ll see an auctioned Eldon Dedini original and an incredible horde of originals for a 1937 Macy’s ad campaign by Gregory d’Allesio. Fascinating stuff all.See it here.